Boise Dentists Blog

At Summit Dental, we love sharing our everyday life. Sometimes we'll post about tips on brushing your teeth or about how much we love our new office. Check back often to see what the latest is at our Boise Dentist Office.

So you’ve cracked a tooth, lost a filling, or are in severe pain on a Saturday and don’t think you can get an appointment until the work week. Here’s what you can do:

Image via Flickr by Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet

Call the Boise Dentists at Summit Dental, Even After Hours

First thing you can do is call our Summit dental office in Boise to see if we can help or if we have any available weekends. Boise dentists make themselves available for phone consultations during a Boise dental emergency as well. In a Boise dental emergency, our dental office will connect you with one of our Boise dentists for a quick consultation. Our Boise dentists will let you know what you need to do until you can see a dentist and can even let you know if you can’t wait and need dental care immediately.

Save a Lost Tooth or Even Tooth Fragments

If you’ve chipped a tooth or lost an entire tooth, find the pieces, avoiding touching the tooth’s roots if you can. Sometimes our Boise dentists can re-implant the tooth, especially if you get to the office within 30 minutes of the accident. Before then, avoid touching or cleaning the tooth’s root and keep it in a cup of milk.

Take Care of the Pain from a Boise Dental Emergency

What you are probably wanting to know most of all, however, is what you can do to get the area from the Boise dental emergency to stop hurting. Below are a few things you can do:

A wet compress. Place an icepack next to your cheek to dull the ache, or even get a cloth wet and lightly bite down on it if that helps.

A wet tea bag. A similar idea as the compress, the tea also has tannins that will help with swelling and pain. Simply place the tea bag (dunked in cold water) next to the area in pain. You can lightly bite on it if that helps as well.

Over-the-counter Boise tooth pain medicine and pills. Take the recommended dosage of ibuprofen or naproxen sodium so it can start working to bring down your pain level as well. Don’t, however, place a pain reliever next to the Boise tooth pain. These pills were meant to be swallowed, not applied topically, and they can be harmful to your teeth and gums. Instead, look for a pain relieving dental gel at your local pharmacy.

Salt water. Mix up a cup of salt water and slowly rinse and spit. Not only will this help with pain, it also gets rid of bacteria.